The Service des communications promoted the anti-idling campaign through the newsletter and social media during key seasons (late fall and winter).

The Service des communications promoted composting as part of Earth Day (April 22) as well as through social media and the newsletter (the Wednesday before April 22). It also promotes composting during the Semaine québécoise de réduction des déchets (in October).

The Service des communications promotes subsidies (later defined) during:

• Semaine québécoise de réduction des déchets (in October)
• Treasure hunts in the spring and fall
• In the Environment booklet (12-page document delivered to 7,000 households)
• As part of Earth Day (April 22)
• In its newsletter
• On social media
• On the financial assistance page of the Town’s web site http://www.ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/en/aidefinanciere
• The Town also promotes registration to Fonds éco IGA (rainwater barrels and compost bins). Reforestation $100/household – 48 owners took advantage
• Compost bins ($50 per household) – 8 homeowners took advantage
• Rainwater barrels ($50 per household) – 13 homeowners took advantage
• Mulching blades ($25) –  22 homeowners took advantage
• Ecological lawnmower ($50 per household) – 1 homeowner took advantage
• Cloth diapers ($100 per residence) – 6 homeowners took advantage
• Low-flow toilets ($50/toilet, maximum 2 toilets/household) – 50 homeowners took advantage
• The Town is once again taking part in the Changez d’air program (resolution 02-063-16) in order to provide grants to its residents ($150). In 2016, 12 homeowners took advantage of the program, representing the maximum number of grants available. http://www.changezdair.org/partenaires#municipalitesparticipantes
• Close to $9,500 in grants was provided to residents in 2016.

The Town offered two (2) branch collections in the spring of 2016, including the regular collection in August and one following the windstorm of July 15 in addition to a regular collection in the fall.

The Service des communications dedicates a section of the Town’s web site to the environment and good practices including grass cycling and leaf cycling. Several videos are available to help residents reach their environmental goals (http://ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/entretien and https://ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/feuilles).

The Town has a dedicated link for local recyclers https://ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/en/recuperateurslocaux. The MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges will create a portal in 2017 where residents can find information on resources involved in the recycling and recovery of residual and organic materials, including ecocentres.

The Town promotes the MRC’s ecocentres through its web site at http://www.ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/en/ecocentre, a link that also re-directs residents to the MRC’s web site at http://www.mrcvs.ca/fr/ecocentre, its weekly newsletters and social media. In 2017, the Town made residents more aware of returning materials to suppliers to whom they have already paid an eco-fee (electronics, tires, etc.) before bringing them to ecocentres (thereby avoiding having to pay twice for recycling costs – since taxpayers ultimately help pay for the ecocentre processing costs).

The Town has held the Plantons ensemble event with the provincial MP since 2010. In 2016, the event was held on Saturday, August 20 at St-Robert Park (resolution 02-070-16). The Service des communications promotes the event in its newsletter.

The Service des communications promoted:

• Arbour Day, the distribution of seeds/seedlings and the sharing of perennials at the Saint-Lazare public market through its regular communication tools (May 24, 2016)
• grants for the purchase of trees through the Environment booklet distributed to households (April 11, 2016)
• the conference on food from the forest (November 19) through its regular communication tools
• and published virtual Green Files:
  • Green File No. 10 – Tree and Woodland Conservation http://bit.ly/2gJUlj1
  • Green File No. 8 – Planting Trees – http://bit.ly/2gLYscv

Postponed until a later date

Electrical requirements for adding 2 electric charging stations is planned as part of construction of the new Town Hall (resolution).

2 electric charging stations are expected to be installed in 2017.

An agreement was entered into with Nature-Action in 2016 in order to raise farmers’ awareness of good environmental practices with regard to agriculture (resolution 02-114-16)

50 homeowners took advantage of the refund covering part of the purchase price of low-flow toilets ($50/toilet – maximum of 2 toilets/residence)

The Town has proceeded with planting 60 new species of trees at the new fire station in order to reduce heat islands in 2016.   

The Service des communications has continued publishing its Pensons EAU besoins essentiels and Respectons l’horaire d’arrEAUsage  awareness messages aimed at responsible use of water.